Romanising oriental Gods : myth, salvation and ethics in the cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras / by Jaime Alvar ; translator and editor, Richard Gordon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alvar Ezquerra, Jaime.

Series:

Religions in the Graeco-Roman world 0927-7633 ; v. 165.

Religions in the Graeco-Roman world, 0927-7633 ; v. 165

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cybele (Goddess)--Cult.

Cybele.

Cybele (Goddess).

Cults.

Attis (Phrygian deity)--Cult.

Attis.

Attis (Phrygian deity).

Isis (Egyptian deity)--Cult.

Isis.

Isis (Egyptian deity).

Serapis (Egyptian deity)--Cult.

Serapis.

Serapis (Egyptian deity).

Mithras (Zoroastrian deity)--Cult.

Mithras (Zoroastrian deity).

Rome--Religion.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Religion.

Physical Description:

xx, 486 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, plans ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; New York : Brill, 2008.

Summary:

The traditional grand narrative correlating the decline of Graeco-Roman religion with the rise of Christianity has been under pressure for three decades. This book argues that the alternative accounts now emerging significantly underestimate the role of three major cults, of Cybele and Attis, Isis and Serapis, and Mithras. Although their differences are plain, these cults present sufficient common features to justify their being taken typologically as a group. All were selective adaptations of much older cults of the Fertile Crescent. It was their relative sophistication, their combination of the imaginative power of unfamiliar myth with distinctive ritual performance and ethical seriousness, that enabled them both to focus and to articulate a sense of the autonomy of religion from the socio-political order, a sense they shared with Early Christianity. The notion of 'mystery' was central to their ability to navigate the Weberian shift from ritualist to ethical salvation.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Religion, Cult and Mystery 17

Chapter 2 Systems of Belief 25

1 Cosmic Order and the Nature of the Divine 33

a The Egyptian Cults 39

i The Myth of Isis and Osiris 39

ii Serapis 52

b The Myth of Cybele and Attis 63

c Mithras 74

2 Humankind in the World 106

3 The World Beyond 122

Chapter 3 Systems of Value 143

1 Between Utopia and Reality 154

2 Ethics in the Phrygian Cults 165

3 Isiac Ethics 177

4 Moral Values in Mithraism 192

Chapter 4 The Ritual Systems 205

1 Religion and Ritual 206

2 Rituals in the Mysteries 211

a Initiation 217

b Sacrifice 221

c Commensality 227

d Prayer 231

3 Rituals in the Phrygian Cults 240

a Introduction 240

b Emasculation 246

c The taurobolium/criobolium 261

d Initiation 276

e The Megalensia and the March Festival of Attis 282

4 Rituals in the Egyptian Cults 293

a Festivals 296

b Cultic Practice 305

i Sacrifice and Votives 313

ii Prayer, Healing and Incubation 318

c Initiation 336

5 Cultic Practice in Mithraism 344

a The Ritual Function of the Mithraeum 349

b Initiation and the Initiatory Grades 364

Chapter 5 The Oriental Cults and Christianity 383

1 The Problems 384

2 The Sub-system of Belief 393

3 The Sub-system of Ethics 401

4 The Sub-system of Ritual 405

5 From Reverse Borrowing to 'Commensality' 417.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [423]-444) and indexes.

ISBN:

9789004132931

9004132937

OCLC:

225532638